Bowstrings
by Timballisto
Summary: AU. Jade took Artemis with her when she left their father's house. Being a villain isn't easy; Jade just makes it far more interesting. Barely there Spitfire, and blatant CheshireRoy. May be continued.


This is an AU where Jade took Artemis with her when she left home. This is just a little ficlet that popped into my writing notebook almost fully formed, so I just typed it out without bothering to write a proper prologue or plot piece.

* * *

"You're pregnant?" Artemis hissed, ducking beneath cover as a bullet sent chips o cement into her face. She coughed slightly, the white dust settling on her hair and shoulders.

"Yeah, so?" Jade's voice was flippant through Artemis' earpiece. As if she wasn't nonchalantly dropping this bomb on her sister and partner in arms in the middle of a fight.

"Do you think you could've, I don't know- _told me_ before I let you charge down there?" Not that Artemis had any control whatsoever over her what her sister did. Usually she just went along with it.

"Aw, Arty I didn't know you cared!" Jade sounded positively gleeful as she slammed her elbow into a thug's throat and then pivoted to slip one of her knives between another's ribs. Two stories up, on the corner of a building overlooking the conflict, Artemis snorted. She aimed carefully for a second, sent an arrow into the chest of an idiot trying to shoot her sister in the back.

"I don't."

"Artemis, you were always such a horrible liar."

"Whatever."

"As for your question, sister dearest, I'm actually married." Artemis's fingers slipped on her next arrow, sending it twanging off into the night. Her target yelped and threw himself behind cover.

"Really, sis, you need to get with the times." Jade's breath didn't waver as she executed a devastating flip, knocking one of her attackers to the ground. She landed on his back, almost purring at the crack of bones breaking beneath her boots.

"I leave you alone for five minutes!" Artemis yelled, loosing arrow after arrow in frustration. "I wasn't even gone for a week! How did that even- I can't even-"

"Do I have to explain the birds and bees to you again?"

"No! God, no." Artemis winced. "It's just- Jade, you have the mothering instinct of a rock."

"Nonsense. I'll be a fantastic mother." Jade punctuated this fact by almost lazily tossing her dagger at the target. Predictably, Jade had left him for last; Jade had earned the moniker Cheshire for a reason after all. She like to play with her prey for a while- that usually translated to killing all of the bodyguards first, then eliminating the unfortunate soul she was paid to go after.

As for herself, Artemis preferred the background. She could settle in Cheshire's long shadow and remain comfortably anonymous while her sister took all of the credit. There were some advantages to being a long-range fighter, especially when working with someone like Jade.

No one took the time to find Artemis, because they were usually too busy trying not to die.

"How are you going to keep it?" Artemis asked, knowing the sharp tone in Jade's voice was a warning. "You can't go around killing people in front of your kid."

_Not like Dad._

Jade visibly stiffened; a change in body language that Artemis could see all the way from her perch. "I was thinking about paying Mom a visit, actually."

"Alright." Artemis said, dropping the conversation. "Um, if you don't mind me asking- who's the father?" At this point, she was just hoping it wasn't someone gross, like Icicle Sr. or Abra Kadabra.

"Red Arrow."

"You total hypocrite!" Artemis almost laughed, incredulous. "What, were all those 'don't get involved with vigilante' talks we had just for me?"

"I'm a super villain; I break rules all the time." Jade said, almost defensively. "And if you remember, I said there were exceptions."

"What? No you didn't" Artemis thought back, but all she could remember was mind numbing embarrassment because they'd just had a run in with the Flash and his sidekick in Central City and Jade had been convinced that Kid Flash wanted to 'tap that'.

"They were rated-R exceptions, not for your little virgin ears." Jade said smugly. Artemis rolled her eyes, but her stomach rebelled. God, even the thought of her sister doing… R-rated things made her want to vomit.

That was saying something when you considered that she hadn't even batted an eye at killing at least five people not even ten minutes ago.

"Sometimes I don't even know what you were thinking when you left and took me with you." Artemis grumbled, but she didn't really mean it.

"Me neither."


End file.
